By JOSH DUBOW
When Connecticut makes it past the opening weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the Huskies are almost impossible to stop.
UConn won its 18th straight game played in the Sweet 16 or later when they mounted a most improbable comeback to rally from 19 points down to beat 73-72 Sunday on Braylon Mullins’ last-second 3-pointer.
The Huskies haven’t lost a tournament game played past the opening weekend since 2009 when they fell in the national semifinals to Michigan State in the Final Four played in Detroit.
Since then, it’s been feast of famine for UConn.
The Huskies have gone to the tournament 10 times since then, failing to get a bid in six other seasons. There was no tournament in 2020 because of the pandemic but UConn wasn’t projected to make it that season.
Of those nine previous tournament trips in this span, the Huskies won it all four times, winning it under coach Jim Calhoun in 2011, Kevin Ollie in 2014 and back-to-back titles under Dan Hurley in 2023-24. In the other five seasons, they didn’t make it to the Sweet 16, losing three times in the round of 64 and twice in the round of 32.
The 18 straight wins in the Sweet 16 or later are the longest streak since the Sweet 16 started in 1975 when the tournament expanded to 32 teams. Before that expansion, several teams started the tournament in the regional semifinal.
UCLA won a record 38 straight games in the regional semifinals or later during the dynasty under John Wooden — a mark UConn can get halfway to reaching with a win on Saturday against Illinois. The Bruins won it all in 1964 and ’65, missed the tournament the next year, then won seven straight titles before the streak ended with a loss in the national semifinals to David Thompson and N.C. State in 1974.
Only one player remains on the Huskies from those back-to-back title teams with Alex Karaban trying to become the 10th player ever to appear in three NCAA championship game wins. The other nine were all part of the UCLA dynasty, including Lew Alcindor, who later became known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Karaban has started in 17 tournament wins, third most ever, trailing only Duke’s Bobby Hurley with 18 and Christian Laettner with 21.
Powerhouse Final Four
In a tournament lacking a Cinderella, the Final Four is packed with powerhouses.
The four teams remaining entered the tournament all ranked in the top 13 in the country with all four spending time ranked in the top five. The teams combined for 132 wins headed into the Final Four, with Arizona leading the way with 36, followed by Michigan’s 35, UConn’s 33 and Illinois’ 28.
The 132 combined wins for the four teams are the fourth most ever headed into a Final Four, trailing only the two seasons when all four No. 1 seeds reached this level — 143 wins in 2008 and 135 wins last season — and the 133 from the 2015 season.
While UConn got to this stage with a nail-biter, the other three teams haven’t really been tested yet in the tournament.
Arizona, Michigan and Illinois have won all four games by double digits, marking the first time since 1988 that at least two teams reached the Final Four after winning the first four hames by at least 10 points. Oklahoma and Arizona did it that season before the Sooners beat the Wildcats in the semifinals.
The Arizona-Michigan game will be just the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that teams met in the Final Four having won all their previous games by double digits.
The Wolverines became the first team ever to win four games in a single tournament by at least 10 points, while scoring at least 90 points in every game. The 381 points scored so far by the Wolverines are the third-most ever for a team that made the Final Four, trailing only the 1988 Sooners with 387 and Kentucky with 388 in 1993.
Michigan’s 33-point win over Tennessee was the largest in the Elite Eight since the Wolverines beat Virginia 102-65 on the way to their first title in 1989.
Blue bloods blow leads
The tournament hasn’t been kind to Duke coach Jon Scheyer when it comes to protecting leads.
A year after blowing a 14-point lead in the second half to Houston in the national semifinals, the Blue Devils lost to UConn after leading by 15 points at halftime and as many as 17 points in the second half.
That was the largest halftime lead ever blown by a No. 1 seed in the tournament, topping the 14 points for Virginia in a loss to Syracuse in the 2016 regional final. Before Sunday, No. 1 seeds had been 134-0 when leading by at least 15 points at halftime since seeding began in 1979.
Scheyer’s Duke team also lost the regional final in 2024 to 11th-seeded N.C. State after leading by six points at halftime, becoming the second team ever to get eliminated from three straight tournaments after leading by at least six points at the half in each game. Auburn did it from 2023-25 under coach Bruce Pearl.
The Blue Devils have some company when it comes to blue bloods blowing big leads in this year’s tournament.
Duke rival North Carolina squandered a 19-point lead in the second half to lose a first-round game against Virginia Commonwealth. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels have some shared history when it comes to big blown leads with UNC also doing it in the 2022 title game against Kansas.
Duke and North Carolina are the only teams to lose twice in the tournament since 2015 after leading by at least 14 points in the second half, according to Sportradar.
Tarris Reed dominates
UConn center Tarris Reed opened March Madness by becoming the first player since Elvin Hayes in 1968 to have at least 30 points and 25 rebounds in the tournament.
After a lackluster game in the second round against UCLA, Reed stepped up again this past weekend with 46 points in wins over Michigan State and Duke.
That gives Reed 87 points and 54 rebounds the first four games, making him the fourth player ever to enter the Final Four with at least 80 points and 50 rebounds. Zach Edey did it for Purdue in 2024, Hayes in 1968 and Elgin Baylor in 1958.
Reed isn’t the only player remaining who has joined impressive company.
Arizona’s Koa Peat had 21 points in the Sweet 16 and 20 more in the regional final against Purdue, becoming the sixth freshman since the start of the Sweet 16 in 1975 with 20-point games in wins in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
Kon Knueppel did it for Duke last year, along with Derrick Rose (Memphis, 2008), Joseph Forte (North Carolina, 2000), Jalen Rose (Michigan, 1992) and Kenny Anderson (Georgia Tech, 1990).
